His Final Days
by Reedstorm17
Summary: Now that a year has passed since my cat's death (the cat in my profile), I decided to write this. It isn't warriors, but what else could I put?
1. Introduction

Hello everyone. Since today (March 6) is one year after my cat, Huey, died, I decided to write this. It's a true story, starting 10 days before his death. I will update throughout the day. When this story took place, I was 12 years old. My twin sister was also 12 (well, duh), and my older sister was 16. Huey's 17th birthday starts the story. This story might be sad, but please review to tell me what you think. 


	2. February 24, 2013

February 24, 2013 ... I came into the kitchen and found my twin sister looking at screen of the iPad mini. She looked up as I approached. "Birthday pictures." I looked at the screen. The pictures showed Huey circling around my sister's legs and staring up at her with really cute eyes. I picked up the iPad and went down to the family room to search for Huey so that I could take some pictures. I found him standing next to his favorite chair. I took some pictures. He stayed and let me take them. ... I was doing a project for school. I was self-teaching myself cupcake decorating techniques. My mom and I went shopping for icing and cake mix and frosting color. After shopping we came back and got ready to make the cupcakes. It took a while to figure out how the icing dye worked but we finally figured it out. We decorated really cute cupcakes with a cat's face. So we took pictures of my dad holding Huey up to the cupcakes and of Huey with a bow on his head until he shook it off. I took notes on it for my school project and we enjoyed the cupcakes. 


	3. February 26, 2013

February 26, 2013 ... I stared out the bus window, my thoughts jumble. My parents didn't expect Huey to live another week. I knew he wouldn't live another year, but... It was too soon. I wasn't ready. We'd had Huey since I was four years old. When I got to school I walked into home awe and went to the desk of one of my closest friends. I climbed onto the lab table and stared at the ground. I was only slightly crying, but a few tears counted. "My parents said Huey won't live another week." I said quietly. She tried to comfort me, but nothing could. ... Later, in music class, the same friend and I decided to pair together for our newest unit. It would be a few classes of writing our own song on the glockenspiel and then performing it to the class. We went into another room to work on it. But instead of writing we fooled around with it, trying to figure out how to play our favorite songs. Finally I figured out how to play the song of one of our favorite YouTube videos, which we referred to as "The Cheeseburger Song." "Show me how to play the Cheeseburger song!" My friend begged. I said I'd write it down for her. Class was over and we'd made no progress on our song. I made a mental note to actually work the next time we had music class, which was in three days. 


	4. February 27, 2013

February 27, 2013 ... The next day we moved Huey's food and water bowl down to the family room since he was too weak to climb stairs. I couldn't believe that just three days ago he was strong. My twin sister was upstairs practicing piano. I played on the iPad for a bit and kept an eye on Huey. I was scared that if I looked away he would die. Finally I got so worried that I put down the iPad and wouldn't let him close his eyes. Every time he laid down I would make him get up again. I know it wasn't nice, but I was scared. Finally my sister came downstairs. I felt safer going upstairs to practice cello if she was there to watch Huey. I guess I felt that if someone was watching him, he wouldn't die. 


	5. February 28, 2013

February 28, 2013 ... My twin sister was upstairs having a music lesson. Her music teacher had brought her kids, so my older sister and I were playing with them. They were petting Huey earlier, according to my sister. After they left, we couldn't find Huey. He wasn't next to the chair, his favorite spot. He wasn't on the chair downstairs, he wasn't anywhere we searched. It got to the point where we slipped on our shoes and went outside with flashlights. We even set up the iPad to take a video of the food bowls to see if he'd come. I walked outside and snapped on the flashlight. I walked all the way around the house. Then my twin sister found him... under the couch. We didn't even know he could get under there. He'd never hidden there before. 


	6. March 1, 2013

March 1, 2013 ... This was the day the picture on my profile was taken. ... Music class again. I wrote out the Cheeseburger Song and brought it to class. My friend and I immediately jumped into figuring out the Cheeseburger song. "Come on." I insisted. "We need to work on our song." But the class went by, and there was no song. ... Huey was strong enough to walk still. He mostly just stayed in the family room, though. My twin sister took out the iPad mini and began taking about three pictures per second. That was how my profile picture got taken. ... Sorry, that's all I can really remember from that day. 


	7. March 4, 2013

March 4, 2013 ... Orchestra. We got a new piece today. It was called Wipeout. It had a lot of really fast notes, and when a lot of us tried to play it we ended up with our hands flying across our strings. Too fast. By the time Orchestra started, we knew it well enough to practice together with the rest of the orchestra. ... After Orchestra my twin sister and I were picked up by our mom. As we drove out of the bus circle, she told us. "Huey can't stand up and his breaths are shallow which means that he's physically dying." she explained. It couldn't be happening. After staring out the window for a while I asked, "How much longer does he have? Minutes or hours?" "Hours." Better than minutes. My older sister was sitting by Huey's favorite spot. He was on his cat mat. His fur was stuck to him, and he looked terrible. What had happened that suddenly made him like this? My sister said she was reminding him of fun times. "I've already reminded him of the blueberries." she said. Oh, yeah. The blueberries. Flashback. ... I was nine years old. My sisters, my dad, and I went food shopping one night. When we came back we stacked up the boxes of berries on the ground by the refrigerator while we put away the food. Two boxes of strawberries, and on top, a box of blueberries. I stood pacing in the kitchen addition when we heard a crash. We walked over to the refrigerator and found the box of blueberries open on the ground and the blueberries spread all over the floor. Huey stood between the table and the fridge, sniffing one of the blueberries. We picked up all the berries and put the box back on top of the other ones. "I think it was Huey." I said. My dad disagreed. "No, I don't think was Huey..." I went back into the kitchen addition. Three minutes later. "Reema, it was Huey!" I ran back into the kitchen. Huey had again knocked over the blueberries. We had to pick them up all over again. When he did it a third time, we finally moved the stack on top of the stove. A minute later, Huey came back in and stopped where the boxes were before we moved them. It was as if he was thinking, Hey, where did the blueberries go? ... I held a blueberry in front of Huey. He didn't even make a move to sniff it. A little later he kept trying to stand, and I would use my hands to support him. But he never got farther than a few steps. Around 6 my older sister wanted to go for a walk. I was afraid that if I went with her, Huey would die while I was gone. My mom assured me that wouldn't happen, so I went with my sister. We walked around the neighborhood, remembering some things from Huey's life. 


	8. March 5, 2013

March 5, 2013 ... The next morning I went into my parents' bedroom. Huey was in a muffin position on his cat mat on the bed. His eyes were alert. He looked much better than he did the night before. "He's perking up a bit." My dad said. That was good. I sat petting him for a while. ... "Huey almost died yesterday." I told my friends. They were all surprised. In French class we had to go around and ask people about their family members, including pets. We had to say what their name was. In French. One of my classmates who knew how much I like cats asked, "What's your cat's name?" "Huey." I responded. "What's your other cat's name?" Huh? "I don't have any other cats." "Really?" Okay, then. ... After school I came home to find Huey in the same state as he was the day before. I did my homework downstairs, glancing over at him every minute. He was worse today. He wouldn't even try to stand up. And now he wouldn't drink water either. When my dad came home we were checking how many breaths he took each minute. About fifteen. Then we had to make a decision. My mom searched euthanizing on the computer. My sisters and I said repeatedly that we weren't going to put him to sleep. We refused. But many articles on the computer asked, "Is it best for your pet or do you refuse because you don't want to say good-bye?" Then my dad explained, "He's in a lot of pain, there's tumors inside him." "Can I hold him?" I asked. My dad set Huey in my lap and I petted him as we decided that tomorrow he would be put to sleep. At the most he would live three more days. "They'll just inject him and then his breaths will get slower and slower and then they'll stop." my mother explained. We burst into tears. 


	9. March 6, 2013

March 6, 2013 ... My twin sister and I got up at 6 am so we could have time to say good-bye to Huey. His vet appointment would be around 3. We would be at school. My older sister was staying home. Once I was ready we had five minutes until we had to go to the bus stop. We sat by Huey, who was in his favorite spot. I pet him many times, not wanting any to be the last. Finally we started out the door, and I ran back. I looked into his pale green eyes once more, glanced at him again, and left. ... My first two classes I hardly payed any attention. After second period I passed one of my friends in the hall. "Huey's getting put to sleep today." I mumbled. "Wait, seriously?" I nodded. Music class. The last day to work on our song. "Is it true?" One of my twin sister's friends asked. "Does Huey really have to be put down?" "Yes." My friend and I went into the other room. "We have to do the song today." I said. "No fooling around." But I wasn't in the mood for it. "Will this make you feel better?" My friend started playing some sequence of notes on the flat and sharp bars. After a while of staring into space, I sat up suddenly. "Let's dedicate our song to Huey!" So we got started. My friend continued the sequence of notes she had been playing earlier while I worked out my own. Then my friend wrote some words for it. I worked together memories for my part. I used the blueberries and also how he used to sit by the cabinet every morning until we gave him a cat treat (or two or three.) The words to the song were this; Even though you may be gone, I will always miss you. I can't believe you're gone. Meow, I want cat treats, Meow, I want cat treats, I love to, Knock over blueberries. We went back to class and presented our song. ... In English class we were reading persuasive letters. The person across from me asked what was wrong. "My cat's getting put to sleep today." "Huey?" "Yes." The student next to me read his persuasive letter. I barely listened, but it sounded like he was asking his parents for a cat. Oh, enough of cats. When he finished, I said, "Just remember, if you get a cat, one day you'll have to say good-bye to it." He looked confused. "I said 'hat' not 'cat'" Oops. ... At lunch my twin sister came up and pulled on my ponytail. Always how she approached me at school. "Did you tell your entire English class about Huey?" she asked. "No." I said. "Well, someone in my Social Studies class who was in your English class told my entire Social Studies class about it." He is so going to get it. ... In Social Studies I almost cried. In Math I couldn't stop looking at the clock. An hour remaining. Finally the school day ended and I had to go to Reading Olympics club. At 3 o'clock I curled into a tight ball and refused to look up. At 3:45 Reading Olympics ended. We were picked up by my dad. We were taking one of my sister's friends home. Finally I asked, "What happened with Huey?" I couldn't hold it back anymore. My dad sighed, "Uh... Huey never made it to the vet. He died about half an hour ago." The full story was this; My dad was driving out to take Huey to the vet. When he got to the top of the driveway, Huey had a seizure. So he took him back inside and he died in my dad's arms with my older sister petting him. He was in the MouseTrap game box, which we would bury him in. Flashback ... When I was four, we had played MouseTrap and left the box out. A little later we came downstairs and found Huey sleeping in it. We have a picture. ... When we got home, we took out the cat toys. We would choose three to bury Huey with. First I chose his favorite catnip toy. Then my twin sister chose an Easter egg because we have a picture of Huey with an Easter egg on his head. Finally my older sister chose a mouse toy. I went upstairs with my dad to see Huey one more time. His fur was still soft and warm. He looked so alive except he wasn't breathing. I looked into his eyes and immediately wished I hadn't. They weren't green anymore. They were white and milky. We positioned the toys around him. I didn't want to leave him. A tear dropped into the box. I pet him one last time, then looked at him again to put an image in my head forever. And closed the box. I'd never see him again. ... We carried the box up the hill. My dad lowered him into the hole. My twin sister and I went into the woods to find rocks. She found hers quickly and brought it back. I went a little deeper and then I found it. It came up easily. We filled in the hole and positioned the rocks. We said a few words for him and stayed there for a while before walking back to the house. ... I will never forget Huey, my first pet. 


End file.
